The Clean Energy Finance Corporation has announced it is providing up to $16.5 million in debt finance for the Cleanaway/Pact Group/Asahi Beverages factory currently being built in Albury-Wodonga. “The project will draw on $16.5 million in debt finance from the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, for a total debt finance package of $33 million, to build…
The federal government’s patent box scheme will only apply to new inventions created after May, while it is still considering how best to target it at the BioTech and medical sectors and whether to expand the scheme to apply to low emissions technologies as well.
Fortescue metals Group’s future industries division (FFI) has hit the ground running delivering major progress in a series of decarbonisation initiatives committed to by company chairman Andrew Forrest in March this year. FFI CEO Julie Shuttleworth said Forrest had led two major overseas expeditions including 50 experts testing the hypothesis that green hydrogen was a…
By Brent Balinski The largest of four federal space industry grants announced on Tuesday went to a company best known for making components for medical industry customers. Romar Engineering is a western Sydney-based contract manufacturer, established in 1968. Its focus is on specialised plastic products for highly-regulated industries, particularly medical, which it looked to in…
Edge computer developer Spiral Blue has successfully launched the first prototype of its Space Edge Zero (SEZ) computers into orbit as part of two aboard 2 SatRevolution satellites. The satellites were deployed into a 500km altitude sun-synchronous orbit by Virgin Orbit’s air-to-space LauncherOne rocket. Launched from the Mojave Air and Spaceport in California, the satellites…
Industrial technology company Calix is moving ahead on yet another front, announcing an agreement to implement its calcination process to reduce in-process carbon dioxide emissions in the production of lime. The company, which is developing a world-first zero emissions lime kiln with Australian group Adbri, will co-develop a project with construction materials manufacturer Tarmac to…
The first tranche of grants under the Modern Manufacturing Initiative’s Integration and Translation streams has been announced, with four companies awarded federal funding for space-related projects.
There was a big rise in apprentice numbers during 2020, but on issuing the boom figures the National Centre for Vocational Education Research warned of the need to interpret the results with care. NCVER reported that there were 297,920 apprentices and trainees in-training as at 31 December 2020, an increase of 13.9 per cent from…
The Royal Australian Navy’s HMAS Perth has returned to the water following an upgrade to radar capabilities, communications systems, and crew areas marking the completion of a major part of the Anzac Midlife Capability Assurance Program. The Anzac class frigate was in dry dock at the Australian Marine Complex at Henderson near Perth. Undocking the…
The Department of Defence has funded three more Australian universities for their work with a US counterpart on cybersecurity research that could one day benefit defence forces.
